Machine for making baskets.



No. 693,9". Patented Feb. 25, |902.

0. SCHLE'ICHER.

MACHI'NE FOB MAKING BASKETS.

(Application led Feb. 4, 1901.) (No Model.) v

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

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No. 693,9". 4 Patented Feb. 25, |902.

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l.;. MACHINE FUR MAKING BASKETS.

(Appumioiz med Feb. 4, 1901.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

OSCAR SCHLEIGHER, OIF HEINSBERG, GERMANY.

MACHINE FOR MAKING BASKETS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 693,91 1, dated February 25, 1902.

Application led February 4, 1901. Serial No. 46,018. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, OsoAn SCHLEICHER, manufacturer, a subject of the King of Prussia, Emperor of Germany, residing at Heinsberg, Rhineland, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Empire of Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in vMachines for Making Baskets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

vThe objectof my present invention is to provide a simple yet edective machine for making baskets mechanically. The machine is equally effectual whether using wire, reeds, wickers, straw, or hemp ropes in making such baskets. In all cases the machine turns out in the shortest time a well-made basket regular in all its parts and does the work cheaper than it can be done by hand.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine with the auxiliary rods. Fig. 2 is a ground plan of same. Fig. 3 is a vertical detail section of the machine. Fig. 4 isa /view ofthe device manipulating the batting-iron, partly in section. Fig. 5 is a view in elevation of the same device. Fig. 6 is afront view, and Fig. 7 a side view, of the device for making basketbottoms. Fig. 8 is a side view of a device for making basket-mantles of cylindrical form. Fig. 9 is a plan view of same. l v

In the bracket 1 and in the sleeve 2 of the standard 3 is journaled the shaft 4, provided with the loose pulley 5 and the tight pulley 6 and near its middle a worm 7, `engaging the worm-wheel 8, secured to the stud 9 ofthe circular table, consisting of the disk 11 and the larger rimmed circular plate 11. It is clear that said disk may be fastened to the circular plate 11 in any desirable manner" or may form an integral part of the latter. This table is kept concentric with the supporting-frame, comprising a plate 12 and legs 13, by means of the projection 14 entering a corresponding opening in the plate 12. A

light working of the circular table 11 is assured by employing rollers 15, journaled in the plate 12 and bearing against the under side of the table 11. The end of shaft 4 pro- 33in and out between the stakes 37.

jecting through sleeve 2 is provided with a wheel 16, meshing withthe idler 17, supported by the arm 18, secured to the flange of the sleeve 2. The idler 17 meshes with a wheel 19, keyed to the shaft 20, journaled in the sleeve 21 of the standard 3. This shaft carries a miter-wheel 22, meshing with another miter-Wheel 23, slidingly secured to the vertical shaft 24, held in position in the hollow post 25 by means of the set-collar`26 at the under side of the post and the crank-disk 27 upon the topsurface' of same. The post 25 can be kept in any position in the standard 3 y,by simply tightening the bolts 10 of the latter and is provided with an arm 28, to which-is secured the sleeve 29, carrying the lon gitudinally-sliding bar 30, actuated by the crank-disk 27, by means of the short link 3l, pivotally connected to said crank-disk and the sliding bar 30. The latter is provided with a sleeve 32, standing at nearly right angles to said bar. y bar is slidingly held the tube 33, capable of In this being held in anypositiou-by the rope 34,'

versa, and afterward bending the stakes 37 upward at the right point to get the desired diameter of the basket, I insert close to said stakes iron or steel rods 39 and secure the stakes 37 to said rods. Aftery this has been done the intertwining material to be used in the manufacture of the basket is introduced into the tube 33, and the lower end of the wire, Wicker, straw, or hemp rope is fastened at the right point in a suitable manner to the bottom and the machine set in motion. The worm 7 will set the circular table 11 in motion, and with it the parts ofthe basket secured thereon,- and the cran k-disk 27 moves vthe tube As these movements take place simultaneously, the intertwining material will be placedalternately on the outside of one stake and on the inside of the other. Instead of lchanging the direction of the material at every stake this change of direction may take place at every second, third, rbc., stake by proportioning the speed of the rotatory table ll and t-he crankdisk 27 accordingly.

As the material must be battened down as the work progresses, a device has been provided to perform this work automatically. The shai`t4is to this end provided with a spur-wheel 40, meshing with the spur-wheel 4l, secured to the shaft 42, journaled in thestandard 43. The shaft 42 is provided with a conical wheel 44 at the inside of said standard, meshing witha smaller wheel 45 upon the inclined shaft 4G, parallel with the inclined stakes 37 of the basket-mantle. Parallel with said shaft 46 are placed the guidebars 47, carrying the traverse 48, in which is movably seated a head 49. At the end of said traverse is pivotally secured the forked batting-iron 50, moved up and down by the motion of said head 49 as the pins 51 of the batting-iron 50 enter the groove 52 of the head. By these means the batting-iron 50 strikes the intertwining material twice at every rotation of the head 49. As this head must be lifted as the work advances and at the same time the batting-iron must be in a position to deliver an equally strong blow at any point from the bottom to the top of the basket the shaft 46 is provided with a slot-53,'having. a toothed bottom, into which the point of a double-ended pawl 54 enters and is held therein by the spring 55. The pawl 54 prevents the head 49 from turning upon the shaft 46. The lifting of the head 49 and the batting-iron takes place in the following manner: If, for instance, the batting-iron strikes a Wicker or another intertwiniug material in such a position that the points 56 of the head 49 would press the end of the batting-iron lower down than the compressed intertwining material permits, then the point of contact between the batting-iron and the material will act as a fulcrum for the time being and the head and the parts connected therewith be lifted accordingly. If the upward motion of the head 49 is less than the pitch of t-he teeth at the bottom of the slot 53, the point of the pawl 54 will return to its seat again; but as soon as said motion equals the pitch of said teeth the lower point of the pawl will slip into the next tooth above, and so on, just as the advance of the work necessitates.

The upward motion of the tube 33 is caused by the material escaping from the lower opening of said tube. As mentioned above, this tube is very carefully balanced, and for this reason the stiffness of the escaping material is sufficient to press the tube 33 upward. Supposing wickers to be used in making a basket, it is evident that they would offer a greater resistance in being bent than ifa straw or hemp rope were used and naturally would tend to press the tube 33 quicker upward than any of the mentioned materials would do; but this is prevented by the continuous hammering of the batting-iron 50. Experience has shown that the stiffness of the different materials does not interfere with the steady upward motion of said tube.

lVith some modifications the above-described mechanism maybe VIliade use of in making basket-bottoms also, in which case the principal parts of the machine could be arranged as shown in Figs. G and 7. The disk 58 is secured to the shaft 57, while the disk 59 is removable and can be pressed against the formerby means of the nut 60. Between said disks I place the desirednuinber of radial stakes 38 and retain them in place by tightening the nut 60 and secure in a suitable manner the lower end of the intertwining material. This being done, shaft 57 is set in rotation and the bar 30 set in motion, which here, as in the making of the basket-mantle, Winds the material in the described manner around the radial stakes. The head of the standard 43,with the batting-iron, can be so adj usted as to perform its office here in the same manner as described by the manufacture of the basket-mantle. After the bottom has been taken Off and the hole been lled in, through which the shaft 57 passed, its stakes are treated as mentioned above, the bottom is placed upon the circular table 11, the stakes of the mantle inserted, and the mantle finished, as described. I could replace the batting-iron by a vertically-movable disk 6l With as many fingers 62 as there are stakes used. This arrangement (shown in Figs. S and 9) is especially suitable for cylindrical basket-mantles. In this case the intertwining material only needs pressing down every now and then. The necessary motion is obtained by means of la screw 63 and a traverse 64. The sliding bar 30 of Fig. 3 might take the form shown in Fig. S, wherein the intertwining material enters through a bracket 65 and is guided to its place by the sleeve 66 on its under side, and yet the work done would be of the same quality and executed in exactly the same manner.

Other modifications of the mechanism for carrying out my invention might be shown, yet all of them would be nothing but a mere repetition of the machine shown in Figs. l to 5 in a more or less altered form, and consequently not diminish the merits of my invention.

I claiml. A machine for making baskets, comprising a rotatory table provided with removable auxiliary iron. or steel rods, means for supporting and rotating said table, self-adjusting means for batting down the intertwining material as the work advances, a standard carrying a longitudinally and radially adjustable post, a rotatory shaft therein for imparting motion to the tube guiding the intertwining material around the stakes of the basket, and means for operating these several parts.

2. In a machine for making baskets the combination of a rotating shaf t with a rotatory table having a plurality of removable aux- IOO IIO

IZO

iliary'iron or steel rods, a Worm upon said shaft imparting motion to the worm-Wheel of said rotatory table, a frame supporting said table, a spur-Wheel upon said rotating shaft meshing with another spur-wheel Whose shaft imparts motion to an inclined shaft by means of miter-Wheels located in a standard, guiderods upon said standard parallelWith inclined shaft, a traverse sliding upon said guiderods, a rotating head in said traverse, a batting-iron hinged to said traverse, its pins entering a groove in said head which in rotating actuates said batting iron, a toothed `groove in said inclined shaft, a double-ended pawl in said rotating head, and a spring in said head to press the lower point of said pawl into the teeth of said groove.

3. In a machine for making baskets the combination of a rotatory table,provided with a number of removable auxiliary iron or steel rods, With means for rotating said table,

means for imparting motion to an inclined shaft, a head slidingly mounted upon said shaft imparting motion to the batting-iron self-adjusting means Within said head, a spur-Wheel upon the end of the main drivingshaft, an idler meshing with it and another spur-Wheel imparting motion to a vertical shaft, held in a longitudinally and radially adjustable post, by means of miter-Wheels, a crank-disk at the end of said vertical shaft actuating a sliding bar guided in a sleeve upon an arm of said adjustable post, a tube in' the T-shaped head of said slidingbar, and means to counterbalance said tube,

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention l have signed my name in presence of tWo subscribing Witnesses.

OSCAR SCHLEICHER.

Witnesses:

C. E. BRUNDAGE, JEAN RUSSEL. 

